World’s Longest River Cruise Will Start In India: 4000 Kms Of River Cruise From Ganga To Brahmapura!

In a first, India will launch the world’s longest river voyage, covering an impressive 4,000 km on the country’s two prominent rivers – Ganga and Brahmaputra, on Jan 10, 2023.

The river voyage will not just be limited to India but also will cover areas of Bangladesh. The river voyage will begin from the holy city of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and will cover over 50 tourist sites, including the world heritage sites, enter Bangladesh, cover roughly km through the country and then enter India back again, terminating the cruise in Dibrugarh, Assam.

The whole trip from Varanasi to Dibrugarh through Bangladesh will span over almost 2 months, 50 days exactly.

The move is taken by the government to boost the development of the country’s inland waterways. Thanks to the extensive river voyage, both India and Bangladesh will fall on the world’s cruise map. 

Here’s everything you need to know about the world’s largest river voyage launching in India in January next year.

The Varanasi-Dibrugarh Via Bangladesh River Voyage: Ganga Vilas Cruise

• The central government has proposed to begin the Ganga Vilas Cruise on Jan 23, 2023 from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and the voyage will end on March 1, 2023 in Dibrugarh, Assam.
• The voyage will cover 27 river systems and over 50 tourist/architecturally prominent sites, including world heritage sites.
• The Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal informed that the ship’s travel route will include three major waterways. 
• Those are National Water Way 1 over the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system, the Indo-Bangla Protocol Route starting from Kolkata to Dhubri, spanning over several rivers in Bangladesh, and the National Waterway 2 on Brahmaputra.
• The cruise will also sail by famous sanctuaries like Kaziranga National Park and the Sundarbans Delta.
• It will navigate on various channels of the world’s largest delta of Megha river, and on Hooghly river at Farakka, following the path to reach the Sunderbans through Kolkata.

“In addition to promoting passenger traffic on rivers, the development of inland waterway systems would expedite trade and cargo services and attract tourists along its route,” stated the minister Sonowal.

“Cruises are of various kinds, like luxury, expedition, etc. Tourists come with their own mindsets, some may wish to move from one point to another while others would prefer to stay throughout the journey. The service will facilitate all sorts of tourists,” he added.

Image: Antara Luxury River Cruises